I read everyones post and of course Robyns web page and I have (had) a pea soup problem so I took everyones tricks of the trade and applied them to my pond and it worked in 3 days (not crystal clear) I can see all the fish at least 3-4 inches down and the water looks great. I used the Barley extract microlift/PL, 8 new HUGE water lettuce (which were 50% off) and carbon pea soup is gone. Now the only problem I have left is every morning I am cleaning all filters cuz pumps are bogging down I mean wayyy down with the algae dying will that subside and should I clean the pond real good since I am sure the bottom is YULKYYYYYYYY or will that type of cleaning undo all that I have done?
Thanks Christi :D

As long as the algae is dying, you will need to clean the filters often. That will stop though once the algae die off stops or slows down. If the bottom of the pond is really dirty, a pond cleaning couldn't hurt. You don't want to scrub down the pond or sterilize it, just remove the majority of the larger debris and gunk. I'm glad things are improving with your algae problem. Hopefully, things will only get better for you and your pond!

What does pond cleaning mean to everyone?

I bring it up only because my idea of pond cleaning today is much different than I was told when I started ponding. Or, maybe there's different levels of cleaning. Or even different types of cleaning; for rock bottom versus non.

If you're interested in reading, here's my story. I've changed my ideas only because I have a rock/pebble bottom liner pond. Initially I was taught cleaning rock bottom pond meant 100% waterchange. Essentially meant pumping out the water, rinsing the rocks, while pumping out the muck from the bottom of the pond. Basically emptying and re-filling.

Maybe there's a certain frequency for that, but I can't see doing it every year. Transfering fish, re-conditioning water, stabilization period, etc. I did it once at the start of the second year, and said that was enough of that. Plus, I think there's a huge value to aged water. I do like to think I clean my pond, but now I do it with minimal water loss/exchange, no fish transfers, no stabilization period, etc. I purchased a pond vacuum! Best thing ever, but need a good one. Now I clean/rinse my filters twice a year in spring/fall, vacuum the pond bottom at the same time, while during the year keeping the dead leaves/debris out. It seems to be working well. I can clearly see the bottom of the pond, I can see the rocks, and I can see the areas where deposits build up that I focus on when I vacuum. Fish are healthy, happy, and producing babies (Knocking on wood), water's clear, and no algae problems in ponds fourth year, for the first time.

John

I do a 100% cleaning of all my ponds except the 1800 gallon pond once a year. I have to take a day off work to clean the 153 gallon pond which takes all day. The stories of those cleanings are http://www.fishpondinfo.com/myfish/clean.htm
As for my 1800 gallon pond, I can't do a 100% cleaning because I can't physically do it all by myself, at least without taking a week to do it which I don't have. I also bought a pond vacuum. I have a couple that work with the water hose. They don't have enough power to suck up much and are a pain to use. My OASE power vacuum isn't much help because, in addition to debris, it sucks up rocks, animals, etc. and clogs too often to be of much use. So, I only use it on occasion, mostly for the smaller ponds where I used to use a shop vacuum which worked just as well. So, I'm a bad pond keeper in that I don't clean my big pond. Don't get me wrong, I do remove debris mostly by hand and with a net. I also clean the filters often. The bottom has very little debris which I attribute to it being balanced and the addition of BZT bacteria and enzymes. I don't do water changes which is also against the rules. We're under a severe drought now so our well is close to failing. I can barely keep the pond topped off. It's finally raining now when I'm supposed to be cleaning my pond and mulching. I decided to e-mail first and then go get soaked.

Yes, I agree; forget the water hose, venturi valve systems. Okay for fish tanks but not quite good enough for ponds IMHO.

Soo...... how often are you supposed to change water? Mine's constantly overfilling anyway; just like right now, raining here too. Yard is soaked because pond water level is so high it's leaving through the overfill pipe. The rain creates some percentage of water exchange anyway. Often times, since my auto fill system is somewhat broke, and I'm too cheap to buy another, it also over fills the pond; another percentage of water exchange so to speak. Plus evaporation, etc.

I think, adding up all the partial water exchange occurances I'm getting a sufficient amount of water changes don't you think, Robyn?

I'm sorry to hear you're not happy with your Oase pond vac. I have Oase's Pond-O-Vac 3 (I think it's called), and love it. It's the latest model, no waiting for the container to empty. It will suck up some rock, but then just sends them out the exit. I haven't had too much trouble with clogs; then afterwards I just toss the rock back in. There's about 4 nozzles to choose from, my favorite is the adjustible one, you can size the opening to the size you want. So, if I'm on the bottom in small rock teritory, I shut it down to a small opening. I'm not saying it's easy, or flawless, I'm just saying for me, vacuuming versus rinsing empty, I much-much prefer the vacuum. and feel I'm getting sufficient water change.

I only top off the water, no water changes. Even when I had my bad algae bloom I didn't do severe cleanings. Our liner has built up a beautiful layer of algae so it looks like draped velvet down there and I don't want to disturb it. I do catch leaves and stuff that's fallen in, but I still have alot of time that the bottom is too thick of muck.

this is my first season with a pond I do 10% water changes and I do it through a siphen (sp) hose and I gently sweep it across the botom and WOW the leaves that I feel I am on top of (i guess i am not perfect) but WHEN I can see the bottom it looks decent, it looks lived in which I like regarding the cascading algae down the side I agree that really gives its charm. My concern would be the winter when the ice is on the pond since it is small I don't want the decay to smother the fish. I am still worried about winter. But as for now I do not want to stablize the pond water again. Everything is ok now levels are perfect so unless it is broke I am not going to fix it.

Thanks
Chris

The experts generally say to change about 10% a week.

Rain overflow certainly does change the water but rain water is pratically devoid of minerals, salts, etc. so it's not ideal if you want to balance your pH and hardness. If you keep track of those, it should be fine.

Evaporation concentrates down the minerals, salts, organics, etc. and then rain dilutes it back up so I figure it mostly balances out in time. I keep my ponds topped off.

Chris, for the winter buy a couple floating pond heaters. They'll maintain a hole in the ice for gas exchange. They work great, and only use about 100 watts. I use two of them. There's a new model out that even cycles on/off based on temperature to save energy.

thanks I have started looking. I am looking for an airstone is there anything out there that is not 300.00 I only have a small pond and geeesh they are expensive and everything that I see is a lot of money.

Chris

I do a complete change/clean out of my 1000 gallon pond in the spring, then we clean the filters every 2-3 weeks, and with that goes about 30-40 gallons, which we refill. I clean the skimmer at least weekly, sometimes more when the walnut tree is dropping crap.
During my spring clean, I scrub the walls and bottom of the pond to get rid of every bit of algae. We have two actual ponds, one flows into the other, so we do the top pond first, then move the fish from the lower pond to the upper pond, and clean out the bottom pond. I've never lost a fish during this process to just dying, but I did have 2 suicide jumpers this year as the upper pond is much smaller.

I also have one of the heater/ice melters, which works great for us.

Ok, it might just be me :blink: but remember you're only looking for a heater to make a hole, not heat all the water like you would a pool. We got lucky, we actually conned a guy into giving his spare. lol He had gotten 2 for free.

This is the air pump I use, the Luft pump. It's now up to $52 or so which is a lot more than I got mine for years ago.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod...GCID=C12188x007